When you become a Goodwill® advocate, you help people access the training, education and services they need to find a job and support their families.

Goodwill Industries International is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization. With your help, we advocate for public policies that provide job training programs, employment placement services and other community-based programs for people having a hard time finding employment.

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Human Services Priorities

Funding

Goodwill programs are supported by a wide range of funding sources, and the federal funding that supports delivery of quality job training and employment opportunities helps sustain and accelerate our capacity to meet the needs of people seeking to find a job, access training and build their skills in the communities they serve.

Workforce Development and Job Creation

As North America’s leading nonprofit provider of employment training, job placement services and other community programs for people looking to secure employment and build their skills, we advocate for training and employment opportunities that help these populations find jobs and careers.

Older Workers

The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCESP) helps provide low-income older workers with community service employment and private sector job placements. As a national SCSEP grantee, we support policies and federal investments that help older workers participate in the workforce and reauthorization of the Older Americans Act (OAA).

Individuals with Criminal Backgrounds

As the nation’s largest provider of job-training services, we call upon key stakeholders, including state and federal policymakers, judges, law enforcement officials, service providers (including our local Goodwill agencies), educators, employers, and victims, to come together to create systemic changes that hold offenders accountable, minimize the negative effects on their communities and families, and support people with criminal backgrounds who want to re-enter society and make a positive contribution.

Veterans, Military Service Members and Their Families

As the nation’s leading provider of job-training services, we have a long history (dating back to World War I) of helping returning veterans – many with disabilities and other employment challenges – reenter the workforce and society. We are committed to promoting policies and practices that help the nation meet the daunting challenge of seamlessly transitioning into civilian jobs and careers the large number of service persons returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflicts — and despite a job market that is expected to remain tight in the near future.

Welfare

The Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program was created in 1996, replacing the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program, which provided cash-assistance to poor families since 1935. Since TANF was created, Goodwills have provided services to more than 1.5 million TANF recipients.

Youth Employment and Development

Employment opportunities for young people are expected to be few and far between as the job market slowly recovers. Historically, youth employment rates are the first to decline during times of recession, and the slowest to improve during times of recovery. We believe it is important for young people to have access to training and employment opportunities that teach them job skills that they will use as they make the transition into positive and productive adulthood.

Family Strengthening

Each year, community-based Goodwill agencies seek ways to provide an increasing array of services that help people become independent and contributing members of their communities. In recent years, it has become apparent that we must increasingly practice a holistic approach to providing services to address the many aspects of life that can impact people’s ability to work, advance in a career and support their families.

Nonprofit Priorities

Charitable Donations

Each year, Goodwill agencies collectively raise billions of dollars by selling donated clothes and household items. More than 82 percent of our revenue goes directly toward supporting and growing critical community-based programs and services. Goodwill has earned the trust and support of 79 million donors, many of whom rely upon charitable giving incentives. Goodwill works to protect and enhance charitable giving incentives.

Environment

Goodwill Industries International continues to work with members of Congress and various stakeholders in recommending that federal legislation be passed regarding electronic waste (e-waste).

Employer Priorities

Federal Contracts: The AbilityOne Program

The AbilityOne program is the largest provider of employment opportunities for those who are either blind or have significant disabilities, employing approximately 46,000 people through more than 600 nonprofit agencies, including Goodwill. Goodwill Industries provides a broad range of commercial business services to government agencies, such as custodial work, food service, landscaping, manufacturing, and document management and destruction.